MUSIC

Foxx gets a little bit country for this return trip to his home state

'Blame It' has made the actor a singing success beyond his Ray Charles role.

By Brian T. Atkinson
SPECIAL TO THE AMERICAN-STATESMAN
Monday, July 06, 2009

Jamie Foxx might have accelerated his singing career as Ray Charles, but his hit "Blame It" has made the actor-comedian a chart-topper in his own right. A Dallas-area native, Foxx gladly returns to his home state this week.

"Oh, man, you know how I feel about Texas," he says. "I just did a George Strait tribute. People were asking me about my country roots and Lee Greenwood. We're going to do a little of that onstage in Texas."

Foxx supports his latest album, "Intuition," Saturday at the Erwin Center. (We talked with Foxx before Michael Jackson's death and before he hosted the recent BET Awards, which became a de facto memorial to Jackson.)

American-Statesman: What did you take away from being part of Barack Obama's inauguration?

Foxx: This is how you know it was a blessing: Millions of people were trying to get out of the inauguration in freezing cold and everybody was uncomfortable, but we were so happy with everything that had just transpired that there wasn't one fight, not one argument, not one person pushing — none of that. It was all just respect.

Did anything personalize the day for you?

There was an African American lady in D.C. who was 95 years old, and I said, "I'm going to bend down and give you a kiss and take a picture." She said, "No, I'm going to stand up. I'm going to stand up this whole week because I never thought in my life that something like this would happen."

The message behind your song 'Love Brings Change' might as well have been (Obama's) theme song.

Yeah. It was dealing with HIV, and the awareness of HIV and the people who suffer from it. It's a song to bring people's awareness to this big problem that we have. After doing the song, I thought this really speaks to what Barack Obama is going through and what he's trying to take us through. We striped it on our album so people could feel it.

Do you typically write lyrics or music first?

Sometimes it all comes together. Like the other day, I was going (sings), "Yep, that's me, yep; yep, that's me, yep," and all of a sudden that becomes a song. You can be watching television or watching a situation and everything comes. Music comes in different forms, and it comes in a lot of different ways.

Can you intentionally spark inspiration?

Oh, of course. You want to experience everything that you can in life, from travel to relationships to listening to people to hanging out and partying or working out. Everything has a soundtrack to it.

How did playing Ray Charles influence you as a singer?

I think what Ray Charles gave me was the opportunity to do music. When we did the movie, people saw me as a musician. Now, when we're performing and we go into the Ray Charles portion of the act, people appreciate it. It's like Ray Charles lives on. We parallel each other in a sense. It'll forever be alive.

Describe your live show. Do you incorporate stand-up?

There's always got to be some comic relief. My first show was stand-up first and then the music. This is going to be more music-driven, but there'll also be some comic relief that works with the music. It's going to flow. That's the great thing about being live: You sort of get a chance to let people see everything.